IMF board says Fund cannot join Greece bailout talks now: FT

[Democrat Failures]

The International Monetary Fund can participate in discussions
over the latest financial rescue for Greece but cannot
officially join the talks until after the fiscally beleaguered
nation has agreed to comprehensive reforms, the Financial Times
reported on Thursday.

The FT report, citing a confidential summary it obtained of the
IMF board's meeting on Wednesday, said that IMF staff had
determined that while the Fund could participate in negotiations
aimed at providing a third round of relief to Greece, the
country was disqualified for any IMF bailout given its high debt
levels and poor reform record.

"The Fund will only decide whether to participate during a
'stage two' after Greece has 'agreed on a comprehensive set of
reforms' and, crucially, after eurozone bailout lenders have
'agreed on debt relief'," the FT reported, adding that IMF staff
were not in full agreement on the issue.

The decision means that an IMF decision on any further bailout
for Greece could stretch for months and possibly into 2016 and
raises questions about whether it will ultimately join euro zone
efforts, according to the newspaper's report.

The European Union, led by Germany, and the IMF had agreed on a
new 86 billion euro aid package to keep Athens afloat, and
negotiations on the package were continuing on Thursday. Greek
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' government is seeking to wrap up
negotiations in time for a major debt payment due on Aug. 20.

Germany's representative to the IMF board said that Berlin
wanted the Fund to move alongside European efforts and without
it's parallel efforts now faced having to push through the
bailout on its own in just weeks, the FT reported.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/30/us-eurozone-greece-imf-
idUSKCN0Q421920150730